an update from dad

Hey everyone, this is dad writing to you tonight. (This is my first ever blog post so if I mess up too badly please forgive me.) I am sitting beside Cora's bed, and she is finally sleeping peacfully. It has been a really long couple of days since Jess last updated, so I will try to fill you all in from where she left off.

On tuesday morning we started out the day learning that Cora had to go back into surgery. Her incision, which goes all of the way across her abdoman, was seeping abdominal fluid and therefore needed immediate attention. This was quite a shock to us since the doctors had mentioned on monday that we might be able to go home the next day. The surgery only took about 45 minutes, but Cora was a wreck the rest of the day after coming off of the anesthesia. She also started to have a lot more trouble breathing, and getting comfortable. This was due to the large amount of fluid in her abdominal cavity and lungs. The doctors also think that her liver is enlarging so rapidly that it is contributing to the problems as well. That has made for two very painful days for Cora and her parents. It is soooo hard to watch your little girl be in that much pain and distress. As a result of all of this the pediatrician the surgeons and the oncologist decided that she should start her chemo as soon as possible. So instead of starting next monday like originally planned, we moved back down to ICU around 4:30 pm wednesday to start the first treatment. The chemo will last for around 80 hours and is all administered through the cvc line that was placed in her chest during surgery. The oncologist also warned us of the many risks that go along with this first round of treatment. (That was the point of the day where both parents lost it.) The positive part of this is that if the tumor responds well to the chemo it should start shrinking things in 24-48 hours.


The one highlite of the last two days was my brother flying in from China. He got in late tuesday night. It has been so encouraging to have him around.

This is a picture of Cora taken on tuesday night. I think she is getting a bit tired of all this.

Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying, visiting, and caring for us. We would not be able to make it through all of this with out you. We have also been so overwhelmed by the number of people who are praying for us across the country and around the world. Words can not describe our grattitude. We know that prayer is powerful, and we have felt God's had in all of this. Right now we are holding onto the hope that we serve a powerful God, and that he can heal our daughter.

I Peter 5:10-11

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever Amen.

Here are few things to pray for.

Praise:

For an excellent team of doctors and nurses

For the thousands of people that are lifting us up in prayer

Prayer:

For a miracle

That God would minister to Cora in way that only He can

That Cora would not be in too much pain and that the chemo would not make her too sick

That the Chemo would go smoothly, and not have any of the dangerous side-effects

That the test results would come back as the more favorable type of cancer

That God would continue to give us the strength that we need to get through this.

That the cancer would start shrinking soon and give Cora some relief